Over the years, your support has made Women’s Web the leading resource for women in India. Now, it is our turn to ask, how can we make this even more useful for you? Please take our short 5 minute questionnaire – your feedback is important to us!
Inclusive classrooms have a better definition of learning, use customized teaching-learning methods, and provide a true education on what life is and can be.
Are you the parent of a child who is neurotypical…or ‘normal’, of typical development? When you look for a school, do you ask if they have inclusive classrooms, if they admit and actively support children who are neurodivergent: with different life/ learning needs?
Why is it my problem, you ask? It actually very much is.
Teaching a neurodivergent child requires a different kind of teacher and an evolved method of teaching. It requires observing kids, the class, their reactions, and doing what it takes, using technical pedagogical tools to make learning happen in a fun and engaging way for the entire class. I would want that, as a parent of a child, from their school.
Being in inclusive classrooms with children who are different, diverse in all ways from economical/ caste/ gender/ ability/ learning needs/ different families has shown an increase in empathy levels and overall life skills like team work, conflict resolution, et al. I would want that from a school for my kid, regardless of their brain wiring.
Inclusive classrooms have a better definition of learning, use customized teaching-learning methods, and provide a true education on what life is and can be. They show how a child with brain wiring differences is honestly and wholly themselves, no hiding, no need for deflecting and subterfuge. I would want my kid to be him/her/themselves always, refining strengths and not being limited or defined by what they lack.
Inclusive classrooms promote peer learning – social behaviour from a child who is socially adept for the child on the spectrum, being true to themselves and saying it as they see it for the child who is neurotypical, seeing examples of courage and perseverance in their lives everyday from factors out of their control. Without rancour.
Image source
Inclusive classrooms build better understanding and acceptance through life for all kids, increased employability and life skills for all kids and a greater sense of belonging and citizenship for these future citizens of our country.
So tell me, will you ask again if a school offers inclusive teaching, and why it does not, when asking for admission? Remember that the school that rejects a child for who they are can’t truly stand behind yours when he/ she/ they need it to. And everyone goes through ups and downs. Many get diagnosed later with learning issues. Those without issues will still need sensitive teachers….is inclusion charity or a child’s right?
And the more parents ask for more inclusive schools, the better the chances of more schools becoming inclusive. Market forces.
Do you want to be included in your workplace with all your abilities and tolerance for when your performance isn’t super amazing? Yep, we are all not so different after all.
Image source: triloks from Getty Image Signature Free for Canva Pro, and Huseyin Bostanci From Getty Images Free for Canva Pro
Sangitha Krishnamurthi is a special educator, blogger and mother of three. Her interests include living a mindful and organic life as much as possible in addition to reading and writing about the reading. read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 might have had a box office collection of 260 crores INR and entertained Indian audiences, but it's full of problematic stereotypes.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 starts with a scene in which the protagonist, Ruhaan (played by Kartik Aaryan) finds an abandoned pink suitcase in a moving cable car and thinks there was a bomb inside it.
Just then, he sees an unknown person (Kiara Advani) wave and gesture at him to convey that the suitcase was theirs. Ruhaan, with the widest possible smile, says, “Bomb mai bag nahi hai, bomb ka bag hai,” (There isn’t a bomb in the bag, the bag belongs to a bomb).
Who even writes such dialogues in 2022?
Anupama, an idealist at heart, believes that passing on the mic to amplify suppressed voices is the best way to show solidarity with the marginalised.
Anupama writes with a clear vision of what she wants to say, and makes sure she explores all possible facets of the topic, be it parenting or work or on books.
An intelligent, extroverted writer with a ton of empathy, she is also one who thinks aloud in her writing. Anupama says that she is largely a self driven person, and her passion to write keeps her motivated.
Among her many achievements Anupama is also a multiple award winning blogger, author, serial entrepreneur, a digital content creator, creative writing mentor, choreographer and mother to a rambunctious 7-year-old who is her life’s inspiration and keeps her on her toes.